1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an axle driving apparatus which is housed in a common housing with a hydrostatic transmission (hereinafter referred to as an “HST”).
2. Related Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,903,545 and 4,914,907, for example, disclose an axle driving apparatus which includes an HST, a differential gear unit and axles interlocked with each other housed in a common housing. The HST comprises a hydraulic pump disposed on a horizontal portion of a center section which is L-like-shaped and has a horizontal portion and a vertical portion. A hydraulic motor is disposed on the vertical portion of the center section. The hydraulic pump and hydraulic motor are fluidly connected by a closed fluid circuit provided in the center section. The hydraulic pump is driven by an external prime mover so as to drive the hydraulic motor to thereby drive the axles. U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,692, for example, discloses providing a check valve at the negative pressure side of the closed fluid circuit of the center section and at the lower portion of the center section through which oil stored in the housing is automatically sucked into the closed fluid circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,545 discloses that in order for a pair of oil passages constituting the closed fluid circuit to communicate simply with a pair of arcuate ports formed on a pump mounting surface on the upper surface of the horizontal portion of the center section, each arcuate port is disposed in parallel to the extending direction of the oil passage overlapping a substantially longitudinal center portion of each arcuate port with each oil passage to communicate therewith. The substantially longitudinal center portion of each port, which is overlapped by each port, is formed to directly downwardly communicate with each oil passage.
When the arcuate ports are formed as mentioned above, a movable swash plate of the hydraulic pump is not able to slantingly rotate around its axis at a right angle to the axles. Hence, a control shaft for controlling the slanting rotation direction of the movable swash plate, when disposed at a right angle to the axis of rotation of the hydraulic pump, must be disposed perpendicular to the axles. However, a control rod connected to a speed changing member provided on the vehicle for changing the vehicle speed extends towards the axle driving apparatus and may be pushed or pulled longitudinally of the vehicle body, whereby the control rod cannot be directly connected to the control shaft for the movable swash plate. Hence, a link mechanism is required to convert the longitudinal direction of operation to a lateral direction of operation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,077, the control shaft for the movable swash plate is disposed in parallel to the axis of rotation of the hydraulic pump so that such a link mechanism is not required. However, in order to convert the horizontal movement of the swinging arm provided at the operating shaft into a lateral movement of the movable swash plate, the utmost end of the control arm is made spherical. A pair of shaft guide members, each having a hemispherical recess, are provided for receiving each spherical end of the control arm so that the control arm must be connected to the movable swash plate through the shaft guide member, resulting in that the number of necessary parts is increased as is the manufacturing cost.
In the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,907, the arcuate ports at the pump side of the center section are disposed perpendicularly to the extending direction of the oil passages respectively. As such, the operating shaft of the movable swash plate can be disposed at a right angle with respect to the axis of rotation of the hydraulic pump and in parallel to the axles so that the aforesaid link mechanism is unnecessary. However, since the arcuate ports and oil passages communicate with each other through separate oil passages formed perpendicularly with respect to said passages, the construction of the passages is more complicated than is preferable.
Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,692, at the lower surface of the center section are open two oil holes communicating with the closed fluid circuit. A ball is inserted into each oil hole. A plate is mounted to the lower surface of the center section by a plurality of bolts. The plate is provided with openings which enable oil in the housing to flow into the closed fluid circuit while preventing the balls from escaping from the holes. This check valve arrangement requires a large number of parts, more man-power to construct and is high in manufacturing cost.